When the revival of "Pippin" opened earlier this year, on April 25, and became, for a time, the Broadway Flavor Of The Month, I was more than a little skeptical. I had seen the legendary Bob Fosse original, late in its run, sometime in 1974. Ben Vereen was still Lead Player, the performance that defined his career, Leland Palmer was still in it, (what ever happened to her????) and John Rubinstein was Pippin. Replacing Jill Clayburgh in the role of Catherine was a then up and coming young lady by the name of....Betty Buckley!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Not to mention, Ann Reinking was in the chorus! So, with all this, the Stepehen Schwartz score, and the Fosse flash, what could outdo this? "Pippin" has always been one of those shows that remains embedded in my memory, partly because I saw it so early in my theatergoing career!!!!!!!!
So, when I heard that Broadway Deconstrucionist Diane Paulus, was going to get her hands on it, I blanched!!!!!!!!!! After what she did to the so-called "Gershwins' Porgy And Bess," which generated a justifiable letter of anger from Stephen Sondheim, I was not ready to have one of the shows of my youth ruined. Speaking of 'Porgy,' back when I was in college, in 1976, I saw a full scale mounting of the Houston Grand Opera's production of it, with Clamma Dale, at the Mark Hellinger Theatre. Which was how it was meant to be performed. So, Audra, or no Audra McDonald, I sat out Diane Paulus' desecration of "Porgy And Bess." I figure she had got lucky, with "HAIR," and would now end up, like Julie Taymor, on the Island Of Washed Up Directors.
Especially, as I feared, after she destroyed "Pippin," which is not nearly as durable or classic a piece as "Porgy And Bess."
As I said, I had no intentions of seeing this. But, just a few months ago, Andrea Martin, after winning the TONY Award, took a well deserved vacation, and in stepped the fabulous Tovah Feldshuh!!!!!! This gave me the idea that Tovah was being groomed to take over the role of Berthe, who sings the big number, "No Time At All," permanently, and I was right. So, once she was in, I just had to see Tovah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And last night we did!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Tovah was the prime reason we went! And, girls, she delivered!!!!!!!!!!! Not only did she belt out that number with the required gusto, she looks fabulous in circus leotards, and did the most amazing acrobatics you can imagine anyone, let alone a woman Tovah's age, doing!!!!!!!!!!! She was
unstoppable, and, as you would expect, this moment stopped the show cold, as I am sure it does every night!!!!!!!!!!!
The show could have used a lot more of Tovah, but that is not how it was written. Bur there were surprises. Such as the fact that, for all the much talked about Cirque Du Soleil staging, which worked, when it came to dance, much of those Bob Fosse movements were up there, almost in tribute to him. And when the fabulous Charlotte D'Amboise (Jacques' daughter, dears!!!!!!!) did her solo turn, I swear she threw in some Michael Bennett moves, left over from when she did Cassie in the 2006 revival of "A Chorus Line." Terrence Mann, Charlotte's husband, did a lovely job, as Pippin's father, but the biggest surprise was Matthew James Thomas, as Pippin, who has one of the most gorgeous male voices I have heard on stage, in recent years. He is up there with Jason Danieley and David Turner (of 'On A Clear Day,' and what has happened to him????). To hell with Jonathan Groff!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I balked when I heard the role of Lead Player had been switched to a woman. But Patina Miller, in a TONY performance, does a superb job guiding the audience through what is referred to several times as--I like this phrase--an "anecdotal revue."
Seeing "Pippin" at this ripe old age reminded me of several things. Here is a concept musical that is not only about adolescence, but that, with its still clearly intact Seventies sensibility, (best exemplified in the "Love Song" duet in Act Two) was directed to Baby Boomers, at the time, and is directed at youth in general today. I certainly did not grasp the message of "Pippin" when I saw it young; I could not see
past the flash and panache. Seeing it, 39 years later, is a much different, and humbling, experience.
Also, despite its message of hope, the ending is the darkest (at least in staging) I have seen since "Follies," There was one moment when I thought shows had been switched, in mid-gear.
But it is an evening of musical theater magic. I guess Diane got enough flack over 'Porgy' that she wanted to get something right. She has, but that does not necessarily mean I will dash to the next Paulus production!!!!!!!!!!!!!
However, all my girls should dash to "Pippin!!!!!!!!!!!!"
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